A Manila-based company is offering its services to Filipino nationals to help them secure jobs as nurses in Malta, despite an embassy warning that such firms were only authorised to find jobs in the services sector, as opposed to the medical sector.
Filipinos cannot work as nurses in Malta without securing the necessary accreditation from the government. A Filipino woman, who has been living in Malta for the past five years, told this newspaper that her cousin – a qualified nurse – sought the services of Ankor Management Services & Consultants two months ago.
The company, which is authorised by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) to recruit and deploy qualified Filipino professionals worldwide, told her it could make arrangements for her to travel to Malta to work as a nurse. The Philippines’ embassy in Rome posted a warning on its website saying it had received reports that a placement agency in Malta was recruiting Filipino nurses coming from Libya, Italy and other countries, and collecting recruitment fees in exchange for employment in the Maltese and British medical sectors.
The embassy said that POEA-accredited placement agencies in Malta were only authorised to find jobs for Filipinos coming from the Philippines and mostly in the service sector (such as room attendants, cleaners and personal carers/caregivers).
Speaking to Times of Malta, Ankor’s CEO Jesse Gutierrez confirmed that the agency recruited and deployed qualified Filipino nationals as nurses in Malta.
He insisted that all Filipinos had to apply at their offices in Manila.
“We need the legal recruitment documents before we can deploy them. We cannot deploy anybody without these documents because we are bound by the law.
“Our agency is legally accredited by law to source or deploy manpower. We are transparent. We don’t hide anything.”
Asked what these documents comprised, Mr Gutierrez mentioned the employment contract, special power of attorney and the manpower/job order request. Asked about the medical accreditation, he replied that it “would be done here in Manila”.
When it was pointed out that Filipino nurses could not work as nurses in Malta without securing the necessary accreditation from the Maltese government, Mr Gutierrez replied that that was correct.
“We ask our counterpart [the agency’s representative in Malta] which medical company from Malta is accredited.
We are transparent. We don’t hide anything
“They [Filipinos] have to do the examination first in Manila. If the government of Malta requires the workers to undergo another medical [examination], then that’s the prerogative of the company that is hiring.”
Asked to identify the agency’s representative in Malta, Mr Gutierrez said the person was a “Miss Barbara” but declined to give further details on how she could be contacted.
The Filipino woman told this newspaper that her cousin had visited Ankor at its offices in the Philippines capital where she was told it would secure her a job as a nurse in Malta against a placement fee which would be the equivalent of a month’s salary abroad.
“I told my cousin to stop pursuing the job because I knew that Filipinos are not currently allowed to come to Malta specifically to work as nurses. In fact, a number of Filipino nurses in Malta work as carers – some even work as cleaners.
“It is only after sitting for an examination here in Malta that some Filipino nurses are actually given a job in the medical field.”
The Health Ministry had said that the Health Department did not have any intention of employing nurses – Filipino or otherwise – without the necessary registration from the Council for Nurses and Midwives.